Portside

Crackdown in Israel; Two, three, many Fergusons; Rightbloggers go apeshit; Ebola and Big Pharma; Aunt Jemima's vengeance; Co-op state of mind

For global companies that have shifted production to Southeast Asia's low-cost manufacturing hub, greater cross-boarder labor coordination could mean less room for wage bargaining, a squeeze on profits and maybe even higher price tags on anything from shoes and clothing to cars and electronics appliances. But even as wages rise, labor activists are confident they aren't at risk of pricing themselves out of the market.

Militarization shows that police and governments are "willing to sacrifice the lives of the community members based on the actions of a few." — Chauniqua Young, Center for Constitutional Rights

The protesters, organizing under the motto "Block the Boat," first converged at the International Container Terminal on Saturday, a day before the Piraeus arrived at the port. Longshore workers responsible for unloading the vessel refused to do so, not because they are taking sides in the fight between Israel and Hamas, but because they would not work "under armed police escort - not with our experience with the police in this community," said Melvin MacKay.

The legacy of nationalism looms large over our program, and over my own studies of Yiddish literature and culture.We learn about the Bundists, the largest and most influential Jewish socialist movement both in Czarist Russia and in interwar Poland which sought to walk the fine line between celebrating and fostering Jewish workers and their culture (meaning especially Yiddish), while remaining a part of the international socialist movement and opposed to nationalism.

A Book Review of Unsettled/Desasosiego: Children in a World of Gangs, Photographs by Donna De Cesare; University of Texas Press, 2013 Donna De Cesare spent two decades taking photographs of Salvadoran young people, documenting the impact of violence on their lives. Her work is as far from media stereotype as one can get. She clearly loves the Salvadoran people whose lives have intersected her own, and her involvement with and commitment to them extends over many years.

Recent research draws on data from nearly two thousand policy initiatives to show that “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy… while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence."

The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other major medical associations — joined by local doctors and addiction specialists — have warned that measures criminalizing pregnant women will only discourage them from seeking prenatal care and drug treatment.

Ukraine is in many ways a Russian version of the wild, untamed American West. Roughly translated, the region’s name means "borderland." . . . In roughly the same period that the United States displaced Mexico and Plains Indians in a rush to the Pacific, Russian forces pushed out Turks and Tatars in a drive south toward the Black Sea.

A $10.10 minimum for waiters, cab drivers, and their tipped compatriots will be a huge deal. For a little perspective, consider this: There are about 1.5 million workers who earn the federal minimum wage. There are almost 1.8 million who earn less, in most cases because they are tipped. Especially in a service-heavy economy like Hawaii’s, this will likely put money in a lot of workers’ pockets.